Sight mounting



'r'mwmwu MUM Jan. 9, 1951 c. D.- KNOWLTON SIGHT MOUNTING Original Filed Ndv. so, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 In 06 nior CuzZer' D Knowlfon Jan. 9, 1951 c. D. KNOWLTON 2,537,223

SIGHT MOUNTING Original Filed Nov. 30, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Cuafler D Know/[fora h' A 0 y Patented Jan. 9, 1951 hiziitibii SIGHT MOUNTING Cutler D. Knowlton, Rockport, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application November 30, 1944, Serial No. 565,939. Divided and this application July 10, 1947, Serial No. 760,151

2 Claims. (01. 33-48) This invention relates to the mounting of a gun sight and is particularly concerned with facilitating an adjustment of the sight in its mounting to introduce a lead-correction.

It. is an object of the invention to provide a novel sight mounting, for example, in a movable gun turret operated by a gunner seated therein, the mounting enabling a second man seated in the turret to make lead-corrections by shifting the sight whenever he determines from the tracer bullets that the live bullets are missing the target.

Thus, in accordance with a feature of the invention, the sight is supported by a member movable upon a second member which in turn is movable upon the turret, the said supporting members being adjustable by a control member to change the position of the sight.

By thus shifting the sight, relatively fine adjustments can be effected. However, approximate or coarse adjustments may also be made by the gunner when the target is close or moves with considerable speed. Accordingly, the sight may be moved relatively to its supporting member and the said supporting member may be moved relatively to the other supporting member, which is pivotally mounted in the turret, within a given range and locked in adjusted position. In accordance with another feature of the invention, means are provided for retaining the sight against movement in a normal mean position.

The present application is a division of that filed in my name in the United States Patent Omce on November 30, 1944, hearing the Serial No. 565,939, now Patent No. 2,457,242, granted December 28, 1948. Two other divisional applications, one bearing the Serial No. 624,302 and relating to a chair and the other bearing the Serial No. 624,303, now Patent No. 2,488,630, granted November 22, 1949, and relating to a gun charging mechanism, were filed on October 24, 1945.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a particular form of my invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the sight and the second man's control;

Fig. 2 is a side view of an upper portion of a turret showing the sight mounting;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the gunner's sight and its mounting;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line IVIV of Fig. 3 with the sight removed from the mount- 11 8';

Fig. 5 is a detail in side elevation of the-connections for the second mans lead control taken from the right of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a broken sectional detail of the azimuth locking plunger for the sight.

The differential in travel between the guns and target frequently makes it necessary to apply a lead-correction to the sight. The present invention provides means for effecting such leadcorrection, simultaneously providing an improved mounting for the sight. As shown in Fig. 1, a sight S is attached by screws to a segmental slide 386, adjustable in a horizontal segmental yoke 388 (Fig. 4) and retained in certain definite angular positions by a spring-plunger 390, entering any one of a plurality of depressions 392 in the slide. At one side, the yoke 388 has a trunnion 394 turning in one side of a vertical yoke 396 (Fig. 3). Opposite trunnions 395, 395, projecting from the top and bottom of the yoke 396, support it upon an upper wall of a turret-extension 62 and on a bracket 39! secured to a turret T (Fig. 2).

20 The sight is thus mounted in front of an opening I0 in the turret-extension. At the side of the yoke 396 (Fig. 3) opposite the trunnion 394 a shaft 398 is rotatable, and projects into the yoke 388 to furnish a second horizontal trunnion. An arm 400 (Figs. 3 and 5) is fixed to the shaft 398, and has a plurality of depressions 402 (Fig. 5), arranged along an are, any one of which may receive a spring-plunger 404 (Fig. 4) carried by the yoke 388. The angular adjustment of the sight horizontally with the slide 386, and its angular adjustment vertically with the yoke 388, these adjustments being maintained by the plungers 390 and 404, respectively, permit the making of coarse or approximate corrections for lead, both in azimuth and in elevation by the gunner. These approximate adjustments position the sight within the range of the finer correcting mechanism, now to be described.

As a second man in the turret T follows the tracer-bullets discharged from the guns, and compares their paths with the position of the target, he may make a more exact lead-correction by moving the sight about the trunnions 394,

395 and the shaft 398. Upon the outer extremity of the shaft 398 (Fig. 1) an arm 406 is secured. Clamped in the outer end of this arm is a rod 408, which is curved rearward and upward, and terminates at a point readily accessible to the second man for the actuation of the sight S. Here, it extends over the surface of a spherical segment 4 l 0, the lower edge of which is fixed to a shelf '4 I! (Fig. 2) supported at its ends upon brackets 413 secured to opposite turret walls. The rod 408 carries a friction member 414 (Fig. 1) of felt, or the like, contacting with the segment 4| 0 and forced against it by a screw 6, threaded through the rod and upon which the friction member 4 is mounted. Because of the arrangement of the sight to move upon two sets of trunnions in directions at right angles to each other, it has a capacity for universal movement under the influence of the rod, so the sight S may be turned in any direction, within limits, by manipulation of the friction member 4 [4, through paths made up of horizontal and vertical components. The lead may, therefore, be quite exactly determined, the adjustments at 390, 404 having, if necessary, brought the member 4 to such a position that it will remain upon the surface of the segment during further adjustment.

It may be desired to fix the sight S in a normal mean position, both in azimuth and in elevation, so no change for lead can be made. This may be in connection with the bore-sighting of the guns or when firing at stationary or extremely slow-moving objects. To permit this, the yoke 396 has at one side of its lower portion a horizontal arcuate surface 8 (Fig. 6). Movable in a casing 420 carried by the bracket 391 is a springplunger 422, urged against the surface M8 to enter a depression 424 therein. This acts to lock the sight in azimuth. Similarly for the elevational movement, one end of the yoke 388 has a depending arm 426 (Fig. 3), at the lower end of which is an arcuate surface 428. A depression in this surface receives a spring plunger 430 movable through the yoke 396. The plunger 430 in every essential particular may resemble the plunger 422, and be. similarly mounted. Either the plunger 422 or 430* may be manipulated by a finger-piece 432, which each plunger carries. Upon each finger-piece is a projection 434 (Fig. 6) which may either enter a slot 436 in the easing, or may be withdrawn, rotated and seated in a depression 438 in the end of the casing. In the first of these positions, the plunger is free to enter the corresponding depression and lock the sight against movement. In the other, said plunger is held ineffective, to permit control of the lead, as previously described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination, a movable gun turret, a sight carried by the turret, a mounting for the sight having a yoke trunnioned upon the turret about a vertical axis and a second yoke trunnioned upon the first about a horizontal axis and to which the sight is attached, an arm projecting from one of the trunnions of the second yoke, a rod fixed to the arm, a spherical segment mounted upon the turret, and a friction member carried by the rod and movable in engagement with the segment.

2. In combination, a movable gun turret, a sight carried by the turret, a yoke trunnioned upon the turret about a vertical axis, a second yoke trunnioned upon the first about a horizontal axis, a segmental slide movable upon the second yoke and to which the sight is secured, spring pressed means for retaining the slide in different positions upon the second yoke, two arms projecting from one of the trunnions of the second yoke, spring pressed means for retaining the second yoke in difierent angular relations to one of the arms, and a rod fixed to the second arm and extending to a point convenient for actuation by a second man in the turret.

CUTLER D. KNOWLTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 499,532 Fletcher June 13, 1893 745,177 Ghenea Nov. 24, 1903 1,430,193 Schurmann Sept. 26, 1922 1,480,303 Roy Jan. 8, 1924 2,360,850 Colby Oct. 24, 1944 2,430,747 Trotter Nov. 11, 1947 

